i have to agree here. Although I am not a fan of excess or useless regulations, the public is not longer willing to allow financial firms to self regulate. For years, Wall Street argued that the market would take care of itself and regulations were useless and costly.

As it turned out, self regulation didn't really work out. Now we have gone (probably) to the other extreme. Unfortunately, this is a pill (complex and costly regs) that firms are going to have to swallow for a while.

Ivy, there is no doubt that regulation has become more complex -- some of that is because of politics and turf battles, but some of that is by necessity (things that were unregulated need to be, etc.). Still, it seems kind of disingenous for so many people to be so "caught off guard" by these requirements. I'm not a risk manager or compliance officer and I could have told you the day after Lehman failed that there was going to be more bank regulation. These companies have had plenty of time to plan and budget for this reality.

It's true that banks brought on the regulations themselves. But many are complaining that the regulations are excessive. Someone told me the regulations are vague and it's hard to write rules for systems. There are also numerous regulatory authorities overseeing their activities. In the SunGard survey, some executives said their attention is diverted from their core business and missing opporunities to invest in new markets and products. Compliance has become a huge undertaking.

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